Charles Cavendish Boyle

Boyle, (Sir) Charles Cavendish. (May 29, 1849--September 17, 1916, Hove, Sussex, England). Anglican. Educated at Charterhouse, he entered the colonial service, occupying administrative posts in Bermuda, 1882-1888; Gibraltar, 1888-1894; Guyana, 1894-1901, being knighted in 1897. Soon after going as governor to Newfoundland in 1901, he wrote an "Ode to Newfoundland", first sung in public on January 21, 1902, to music by a St. John's music teacher, Herr Krippner. On May 20, 1904, the Ode was published with music by Sir C. Hubert Parry, just before Boyle was posted as governor to Mauritius, from which he retired in 1911 to England. Although Alfred Allen, organist of the cathedral in St. John's, published another setting of the Ode in 1908, Parry's music was chosen when the Legislature adopted the Ode as Newfoundland's national anthem. It was used until the island entered the Confederation in 1949, and is still sung with almost Welsh fervor whenever Newfoundlanders gather on the Canadian mainland, especially for a church service.

Hugh McKellar, DNAH Archives